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Report: New York Giants are a Projected $4.7 Million Over 2013 Cap

January 9th, 2013 at 8:15 AM By Dan Benton

Although the official beginning to the NFL offseason is quite a ways away, all 32 teams have already begun making adjustments and preparations for the 2013 season. On the eve of the regular season finale, under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), teams had to designate how much money they would carry over into 2013. For the New York Giants, who were eliminated from the playoffs on the final day of week 17, that number is $1 million. It also puts them $4.7 million over what will be the 2013 cap.

They aren't alone, however. There are nine other teams who are over the 2013 projected cap, including two NFC East rivals.

The 2012 cap of $120.6 million will increase in 2013, but only by $300,000 to $120.9 million. This minimal change will put pressure on all teams over the cap, including the Giants. But, as we've seen in the not so distant past, General Manager Jerry Reese is very good at making necessary adjustments to clear space. And with several big contracts likely to be restructured or terminated (see: David Diehl, Ahmad Bradshaw, Kenny Phillips and Terrell Thomas), Big Blue shouldn't have any lingering issues once free agency begins.

In 2013 and beyond, they must spend 95% of the cap. In the event that player costs are less than this overall league minimum, then, on or before April 15 of the next League Year, the NFL shall pay an amount equal to such deficiency directly to the players.

In terms of minimum salary for each team, the salary floor is 89% of the cap. However, that does not start until 2013. Hence, there is in essence no salary floor in 2011 or 2012.

40 Responses to “Report: New York Giants are a Projected $4.7 Million Over 2013 Cap”

That’s not a lot. I’m a firm believer that they can find cap money if there’s a player they really want to sign. However the Giants are very judicious when it comes to Free Agents. So more cap space wouldn’t necessarily mean they’d make any more acquisitions. They certainly wouldn’t go ‘Dream Team’ crazy.

Having said that … yeah, there’s a house cleaning coming. And we definitely will see roster changes above the normal expected turnover. This could spark a little more activity on the FA front … but it’d basically translate to probably one additional guy.

Jim … previous thread … for sure these OL pickups are probably just camp fodder. I think they track guys they had interest in on draft day, and if available they pick them up. But all are very long shots.

My point was that all the OLmen indicates they are aware of the problems in that unit. Watch out come Free Agancy and the draft.

I’m sure theres plenty of non-guaranteed money in there. They’ll probably go under the limit pretty quickly when they start making cuts and restructuring contracts. They’ll need to make room for the incoming draft class as well as an FA signing or two.

Where is the money going to come from to sign, Beatty, Cruz, S. Browm A. Brown, Philips, Bennett, Boothe etc? The draft class is a no brainier like Krow said but 3-4 cuts and a couple of restructures will be enough to sign about 3-4 of the guys I mentioned. We have 26 UFA’s. I see roster carnage…

LOL! Been saying this to folks for a couple of months.. Maybe now people will listen when I say there is going to be a ton of roster turnover this off season and not tell me I’m crazy.. We are a projected 4.7 mil over the cap, have 26 of our own Free agents and have 5-6 vets making more money than they deserve.. People throw around restructure like it is a magic wand and will make oodles of cap room presto changeo.. While many players will have to restructure, many players will be gone as well and replaced with younger cheaper guys through the draft and UDFA and some bargain type Free agents. This WILL BE a younger team next season, book it..

Absolutely! Look at teams like Washington, Indy, Seattle, Minnesota.. Those teams are young and hungry. Those guys want a taste of the spotlight, want to get paid, want to get endorsements, want to raise the Lombardi.. All our guys have all that. It sucks because we grow so found of the guys that have been here and fought the battles for the last 5 years magical run but unfortunately it is time for some to move on and get some young blood in here. This is why I love JR! He is a cold blooded business man and always does what is best for the team and not what is the sentimental thing to do. He has been bringing in young studs and wil bring in more this off season. I see twice as many vets going bye bye as in any prior season under his tenure

Agreed. This is why I changed my tune on Bradshaw. While I’m not against him returning looking at the cap we have to start to cut in some areas. I’m also starting to feel that way about Boley. Although, I wonder if fewell will plead that either him or blackburn is back because they know his defense. Diehl might not be gone but if he’s back it’s at Lockear money. While I think it’s possible both Webster and Canty are gone I think they will be both be back on restructured deals. While both struggled this year they are only 30 which means they both could have bounce back years. I rather bet on them being their 2011 selves in 2013 than another free agent costing the same amount.

I don’t think the roster will be vastly different from a core player perspective but we will lose some of those players like KP, Bradshaw, etc.

I didn’t realize Boley played that little. I saw Paysinger in there but didn’t see it was for Boley. Good point. But with Williams and Paysinger I think you lose little in ability it’s just a matter of the mental aspects of the game.

Disagree. We had a decent shot. Both games we needed were very close to going our way. Now or odds went way down but it’s not over until it’s over. Maybe teams have backed their way into the playoffs. That’s what the Jets did in 2009. What the giants did in week 17 was at least show the had some pride. I remember the last game in giant stadium an that was embarassing. While the year is frustrating at least this team didn’t quit which makes me feel a lot better about us heading into next year.

beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Winning the last game which for all intent and purpose was irrelevant (imo) doesn’t make me feel any better. This team showed a great degree of consistency…by being totally inconsistent. Feast or famine is not a winning formula, but we’ll see. We have plenty of time to make some very necessary changes.

The Giants took the field Playing for a playoff spot against an arch rival and beat their balls off. As bummed as I was that they missed the playoffs, I’m happy they sent Vick and the Dog Killer out in that fashion and let the rookies shine and show what they wil be in the future.

I think you’re just still bummed. I understand the win didn’t make you feel better but a loss to Philly at home would have made you feel worse. That would have a different feel going into the offseason kind of like the Jets last season. We underachieved and at it’s disappointing but 8-8 with that finish would have been a disaster.

Whiel many have complained about the pass rush the issue we had this year is we were horrible versus the run. I like many others was thinking ok we need a run stuffer in there with Joseph or at least to mix with himand Canty. I’m not saying that won’t help but I think we are better off with Canty and Joseph than it might appear with the results. I think Joseph by the time Canty got some rust off and was mostly back was wore down from playing so many snaps and commanding most of the DT attention for much of the season. So I feel liek we played nearly the whole season with either No Canty, a shell of Canty or a shell of Joseph. I think both of them being healthy should help next year a lot. Not having better LBs hurts but I think we losing the line of scrimage battle up the middle before the LBs could even really help. the LBs not helping enough them made it worse.

Stopping the run will allow more passing rushing situations. And play action not to be so effective against us.

I think it is a foregone conclusion that KP is a goner. Brown and Hill’s emergence plus the talk of moving TT to safety makes me believe that he will be the first casualty of the roster turnover I predicted. Diehl will be next as his play has fallen consistently and he is in final year of deal. Then comes the trifecta of Tuck (4.5) Boley (4.25) and Webster (7.0) who are all in the final year of their deals. They are all young enough for a restructure and should only be back in 2013 at a reduced 2013 salary. Chris Canty (6,25 & 6,50) stands out but with two years left on his deal he could be very expensive to cut and at his age is risky to restructure and extend. Not sure he would be willing to take a straight pay cut either. Ahmad Bradshaw (3,75 & 4,0) could be gone as well as 7.75 mil over 2 years is a lot for a RB that is not a feature back and has health issues. I’d take him back at a reduced rate (and role) but otherwise he would be my 2nd cut after Diehl There are guys like Eli (13, 15,5, 17) and Rolle (7&7) that make a TON but deserve it. Wonder if they would be up for signing new deals with cap friendly 2013 and 2014 salaries with big bonuses spread out over life of deal? Terrell Thomas will be cut the first possible day and then offered a more reasonable deal.

Tuck will be back. He’s in no danger unless we are bringing back Osi instead. I don’t care how they played but we can’t lose both in one offseason. That’s a lot of production and leadership from guys that are not that old to lose. Maybe Tuck get’s extended to lower his 2013 number but he or Osi will be back.

Webster I rather not have to extend because I don’t know if this year was just a down year. That’s the way to lower his cap number the most but it can kill our 2014 cap if we then have to cut him. Look at the cap hit we are taking for Diehl in 2013 because we restructured him all of those times. You want to restructure players you hopefully never have to cut because that creates dead money on your cap.

I think Boley is likely gone. Given we have similar players behind him it makes little sense commiting to him beyond 2013. And in 2013 given our cap concerns his number is too big for us to carry.

Unless the salary cap starts to move higher I believe the NFL will continue to resemble the college game more-and-more.

For reasons mentioned above teams now have to face the economic reality that they can’t invest nearly as much time in developing players as before. They have to maximize the value of rookie contracts, UDFAs, and JAG pickups.

It’s hard to imagine the offenses of today surviving. They depend on simultaneous reads from far too many players. It takes years of continuity … years of practice. That luxury is gone.

Dead money is a salary cap charge for a player that is no longer on a team’s roster. It is a by-product of the various salary components of an NFL contract being accounted for differently under the salary cap. Base salaries and most roster bonuses count against the cap in the year that they are earned while signing bonuses are prorated or spread out evenly over the life of a contract for a maximum of five years. Option bonuses and roster bonuses fully guaranteed at signing are the other most common salary components that are also treated like signing bonuses.

When a player is released or traded, the remaining proration of the salary components that are treated like a signing bonus immediately accelerate into his team’s current salary cap. For example, if a player signs a five-year contract with a $5 million signing bonus, $1 million of his signing bonus counts towards the salary cap for each year of his five-year contract. If he is released after the second year of his contract, the $2 million of signing bonus proration from the last two years of the contract automatically accelerates into the club’s current cap, creating $3 million of dead money.

There are two major exceptions to this general rule. With players released or traded after June 1, only the current year’s proration counts towards the cap while the proration from the remaining contract years doesn’t accelerate until the next year. A team can also release two players each year prior to June 1st that will be treated under the cap as if they were released after June 1. This is commonly referred to as a post-June 1 designation.

Excessive dead money can inhibit a team’s ability to improve its roster because there may not be enough cap room to be active in free agency or give contract extensions to players on the team. However, the ability to carryover unused cap room from one year to the next year can help limit the effect of dead money. Although the NFL sets the salary cap annually, each team’s adjusted salary cap can be different depending upon the amount of unused cap room that is carried over from the previous year.

There are three NFL teams with more than $25 million in dead money this year. Here’s a look at how each of the team got there.

ICON Peyton Manning may no longer be in a Colts uniform, but his previous contract is still being felt in Indianapolis. It is remarkable that the Colts are a playoff contender considering that 30.1% of their adjusted cap is devoted to dead money. In essence, they are operating with a $90 million salary cap because of the dead money. Most of the Colts’ dead money is related to releasing Peyton Manning instead of paying the $28 million option bonus in the five-year, $90 million contract he signed in 2011, which included a $20 million signing bonus. The remaining $16 million of Manning’s signing bonus proration accelerated into this year’s cap. However, the Colts are receiving a $5.6 million cap credit since Manning’s $28 million option bonus was also prorated over the five years of his contract. Manning, who had a $6.4 million 2011 base salary, made $26.4 million last year.

The decision to part ways with Manning put the Colts in a rebuilding mode where Joseph Addai ($3.72 million), Dallas Clark ($5,306,668), Melvin Bullitt ($2.67 million) and Gary Brackett ($2.4 million) were also released. Brackett was a post-June 1 designation who will count $4.8 million towards next year’s cap. These four players along with Manning account for slightly more than $30 million of the Colts’ dead money. Kelvin Hayden’s contract is responsible for $5.4 million in dead money because his signing bonus proration was spread out over two years when he was released after the lockout.

Dallas Cowboys ($30,378,408-Dead Money; $134,232,826-Adjusted Cap)

The Cowboys are paying for contract mistakes made several years ago. Most notably are the contracts that were signed by Roy Williams and Marion Barber.

At least Marion Barber (above) produced while he was with the Cowboys. That’s more than you can say about Roy Williams. Williams signed a six-year, $54 million contract extension (with $19.5 million guaranteed) in 2008 after being acquired from the Detroit Lions for 2009 first, third and sixth round picks. Williams never came close to duplicating his 2006 Pro Bowl season with Detroit (82 catches, 1,310 receiving yards) while with the Cowboys. In fact, Williams only had 12 more receptions and 10 more receiving yards than his 2006 season during his almost three seasons in Dallas.

Barber received a seven-year, $45 million contract (with $16 million guaranteed) in 2008 as a restricted free agent without having a 1,000-yard rushing season or being an every-down running back. Even though Williams and Barber haven’t played for the Cowboys since the 2010 season, they are currently counting $8.75 million and $4 million, respectively, towards Dallas’ cap. The same holds true for Leonard Davis ($4,166,670) and Marc Colombo ($4.05 million), who was also part of the 2011 roster purge once the lockout ended.

The Cowboys were still able to be a major player in the first wave of free agency despite 22.6% of their adjusted cap being devoted to dead money and their penalty for violating the spirit of unwritten spending rules during the uncapped 2010 season. Brandon Carr received a five-year, $50.1 million deal (including $26.5 million in guarantees). His $3.2 million first year cap number is low for such a lucrative deal. Carr’s cap number jumps to $16.3 million next year which makes him a prime candidate to restructure his contract since the Cowboys will have a $6.5 million cap deficit because of those penalties and approximately $134 million committed towards next year’s cap with only 43 players under contract.

Oakland Raiders ($28,114,475-Dead Money; $124,105,427-Adjusted Cap)

Reggie McKenzie, who was hired as general manager in January, inherited a mess because of the previous regime’s penchant for signing bad player-friendly contracts. The Raiders began the offseason with $145 million committed towards this season’s cap, which is $120.6 million, when they only had approximately $3 million of cap room to carryover from the 2011 season. In order to reduce their cap obligations by approximately $22 million to comply with cap rules, McKenzie restructured (Carson Palmer, Richard Seymour, etc.) and terminated contracts.

Addressing the three-year, $31.5 million contract (with $20 million in guarantees) Stanford Routt received in 2011 before the lockout, which made him the NFL’s third highest paid cornerback (by average yearly salary), was at the top of McKenzie’s list. Oakland compounded their problem after the lockout by restructuring Routt’s contract to create cap room in which two voidable years were added at $11.5 million each to help with the proration. With Routt’s 2012 base salary becoming fully guaranteed on February 10th, McKenzie released him despite his contract containing a $5 million fully guaranteed fifth day of the league year 2012 roster bonus without an offset.

Most NFL contract guarantees contain language which allows a club to reduce the amount they owe a released player by the amount of his new deal with another club (an “offset”). Since Routt’s contract doesn’t have this language, he has been getting paid this year from both the Raiders and the Chiefs. Routt counts $10,785,334 in dead money on Oakland’s cap. Without the restructuring, his dead money would only be $3,333,334. Routt made $15 million for the one season he played under this deal.

Kamerion Wimbley is the other major dead money charge for the Raiders at $9.9 million. McKenzie attempted to renegotiate the five-year, $48.5 million contract Wimbley received last year, but didn’t have much leverage because $6.5 million of his 2012 base salary was fully guaranteed without an offset at signing. He released Wimbley on March 16th, a day before the remaining $4.5 million of his $11 million 2012 base salary, his $11 million 2013 base salary and $2 million of his 2014 base salary became fully guaranteed. Kevin Boss and John Henderson, who were also released, are receiving $2 million and $1.5 million payments, respectively, from the Raiders this year because of salary guarantees without offsets.